


The Trolley

by sukotoko



Category: idk what to call this yet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-21
Updated: 2017-11-21
Packaged: 2019-02-05 05:10:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12787692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sukotoko/pseuds/sukotoko
Summary: this is mainly for a friend.





	The Trolley

Bump. It was dark and quiet. Cien liked it this way, nothing could hurt him in here. Bump. He couldn’t see anything past the ambient light above him. It was subtle, not too bright or intrusive. It only let him see what he needed, which was, anything about five feet in front of him. Bump. He could also hear the faintest sound of music. It didn’t appear to have any structure, or any notes, or any rhythm to it, but Cien still found comfort in this mysterious tune that appeared to originate from so very far away. Bump. And there was something else, a voice of someone familiar. Everytime this voice shouted its unintelligible words Cien felt sad. And his chest began to hurt too. It hurt quite a bit, but he didn’t seem to mind. It seemed like the pain was always there. Bump. But then again, why was it there? It felt like he was here for an eternity as well as an instant, but the pain seems to be a constant. Bump Bump. And who was that voice calling out to him? Why did it sounds so scared? Bump. And now that Cien thought about it, where was he anyways? The light was definitely not as bright as it was before. Bump. It seemed to be getting brighter and brighter with each passing second. Its hurting his eyes, the pain in his chest is growing! The voice is getting softer and the music is becoming more coherent! What was going on? Why was he here? BUMP!

Cien awoke to sharp pain in the back of his head. He drew his hands to the affected area and scrunched his face, waiting for this sudden pain to pass. Once he did he slowly arose from where he previously lie, confused and forgetful. As his senses came to him he managed to put together that he was inside a trolley, much like the one he used to ride regularly as a child. As his memory came flooding back he recollected that this, in fact, wasn’t his bunk bed in the orphanage, and neither was it his bedroom in Master Rose’s mansion. Master Rose. 

Upon noticing that his mentor was nowhere to be seen, he quickly stood up and immediately regretted that choice when a wave of light-headedness overcame him. Regathering himself, he looked out the trolley windows so that he could further examine his surroundings. The trolley seemed to be traveling upon a rail which stretched across a massive ocean. The water was extremely clear, yet nothing seemed to be teeming within itself. The sky above was a beautiful azure, filled with puffy white clouds that you’d only see on tropical islands. Although it was day out, there was no sun anywhere in sight. The whole world seemed to glow in an unearthly radiance, as if a sun wasn’t even necessary here. Was he in Heaven? No, he thought, Heaven’s oceans aren’t nearly this...normal. Was he in the afterlife? Shouldn’t there be more people? And with that thought his most recent memories came flooding back in bits and pieces. An enormous creature, Master Rose holding his hand tightly. Then there was fighting, and finally a large object came down on him. There was also a lot of pain, and the scent of sea water and metal. He remembered all of this so clearly but for some reason he couldn’t piece it together. After he managed to snap himself out of his thoughts when he came to notice that he wasn’t the only person in this trolley. Someone was operating the vehicle. Someone with pale skin and short black hair. Someone like….

“Vin?” he shouted in surprise.

The titular person turned around in her seat as to face Cien, with her trademark mischievous smile. “Well look who finally managed to wake up!”

“What are you doing here? Where are we?” Cien asked, looking around feverishly.

“Well based on our current circumstances, my best guess is that you’re dead! You died!” she answered with little concern in her voice.

Cien snapped his head back at Vin, his gaze fearful. “I’m dead? So that means…” even more memories were returning to help piece together his demise. The Leviathan must’ve killed him. And Master Rose….he couldn’t save Cien. He failed his master. With this sudden realization Cien slumped back into his seat, his expression filled with sadness. “I...I failed Master Rose.”

“Jeez bud, I’m sorry about your loss...of yourself.” although her expression barely shifted, Cien could tell that she was expressing general concern for him.

“Wait a second, if I’m dead then why are you here?” Cien asked.

“Weeeeeeellllllll I may have told a little white lie,” she responded. “I’m not actually a Celestial, I’m a psychopomp.”

Cien looked up inquisitively. “A psychopomp?” he said.

“Yeah, I’m basically like the grim reaper! I take departed souls and safely escort them to the astral plane where they can proceed to like, go to the afterlife i guess.” she explained.

“So, I really am dead!” he added.

“Unfortunately yes.” she said.

That was it. Cien was dead. He failed at his mission, gotten killed and now he’s being carted off to the afterlife. He was never going to see Heaven again. He would never play chess with Miss Wadjeti, or get into mischief with Vin. He won’t be able to have fun with Lady Uzume or help Lady Amaterasu with her work. Worst of all, he would never be able to see Master Rose again. This is what hurt him the most. He finally had a family of his own, someone who cared for him and trusted him, and now he’s gone forever. Maybe this was some convoluted message, telling him that he doesn’t deserve a family. Even if that was it, it still wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair! He finally had a chance to be happy and that was ripped away from him! He could feel the tears coming down his face, but he didn’t care anymore. He was a failure, a worthless crybaby failure. He couldn’t stop crying, he was sobbing like a little kid and there wasn’t any reason to cry. He hated himself but he didn’t want to stop crying. Everything seemed to make more sense when he was crying. It meant he was more alive, but now he didn’t have any reason to cry. Why couldn’t the tears stop? Why did this have to happen? What did he do wrong?

Vin was staring back at him, she looked like she wanted to say something but couldn’t muster up the courage to say it. Finally she spoke, “Listen, you really didn’t deserve to die. I know i have to take you to The Fractal, but if it were in my hands i’d turn around and bring you back. You….you deserve to be happy.” Somehow these words gave a little bit of comfort to Cien.

Wiping away the tears and snot, he looked back outside at the calm ocean. “Th..thanks Vin,” he said. “The ocean is kinda pretty anyways, its kin-kinda comforting.”

“Is that what you see? An ocean? Lucky you.” she gave a half-hearted smile.

“What..what do...do you mean?” he asked.

“Don’t worry about it. Right now, the astral fissure is becoming more coherent, so we should be arriving soon.” Cien noticed how the clouds were warping and the horizon was curving in on itself. Everything seemed to become a bit more distorted, but that didn’t scare him. He didn’t mind anymore, just a minute ago he was bawling like a baby and now he felt apathetic. And with all they’ve been through together, he couldn’t even say goodbye to his Master. 

As if given an unseen signal, the world outside began to becoming much more brighter. Cien felt like he was getting heavier and heavier, like something was trying to push down on him, force him to the ground. The light was blinding and the force was increasing. Cien was struggling just to stay on the bench. Was he passing into the afterlife like Vin said? He was scared, he wasn’t ready to do this! He wanted to say how much he appreciated what Master Rose had done for him. He wanted to at least see him again. Everything was a blinding white now, and Cien could feel himself being pushed into the seat. As he tried to reach out to Vin for help, he heard a snap, and then the light was gone. He didn’t feel the force anymore. He could see the trolley, the ocean and the sky fall away from him. For some reason, after all the stress, he felt so very sleepy.

Vin turned back to see an empty trolley, with no sign of Cien. The trolley, without a soul to cart, began to flake away piece by piece, each section carried off by an unfelt wind. “Wow, he managed to bring you back to life, huh? Guess Rose really does care about this kid.” she gave off a smirk of satisfaction and grabbed a nearby conductor’s hat, placing it on her head and letting it fall to the seat as she disappeared from the soon to be non-existent trolley cart. The last of the trolley flew away into the sky like slips of paper in a summer breeze, and the ocean was left to be without any indication that they were even there.


End file.
